Walking with Jesus: 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time A

For Sunday, September 13, 2026

Sirach 27:30-28:7, Romans 14:7-9, Matthew 18:21-35


We have heard about the Golden Rule for a long time. Remember what it is? Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. We see this in Matthew 7:12: “Do to others whatever you would have them do to you. This is the law and the prophets.” Also in Luke 6:31: “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” This covers not only external actions but interior dispositions; i.e., what is going on inside of me: retaliation, getting even, revenge, an eye for an eye (and a tooth for a tooth), tit for tat. And: How about the prayer taught to us by Jesus that we pray at every Mass, in every Rosary: the Our Father, specifically: “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

The bottom line is that it is very difficult to forgive one who has offended us. Very deep feelings are involved. When we are hurt, we want to get even. However! Here's a big point to reflect on:

Retaliation is the way of the world and not the way of God. Jesus told us so!

Our first reading is from the Book of Sirach which belongs to the Wisdom literature of ancient Israel. As we study it we see that most of it is a reflection on life experiences that we all go through at one time or another. This is seen in the very first verse where we read that wrath and anger often are the first responses to life happenings — but these actions are really hateful and detestable if they stay with us and become permanent dispositions in our minds and hearts. Sirach’s wisdom states it succinctly: We may experience these sentiments, but we should not cling to them. We don’t have to dwell on them for long because too often they’ve been part of our lives. Sirach goes on to label these as sins, and those who do them sinners. Somehow we excuse categorizing what we do as sins, saying they're just natural responses. Let me insert a question here. What is God best at? The immediate response is love. Really, God is best at His mercy. How often and completely has He forgiven me — all the time? Do I ask to be forgiven, or do I want to hang on to my sins — especially the ones I enjoy?

The bottom line: We are all sinners; we have all offended others. Therefore all of us are in need of forgiveness. If we are not willing to forgive those who have offended us, how can we hope to be forgiven for our own offenses? Once again, Jesus taught us this. See the Our Father.

In some of the earliest biblical traditions we see that while the ancient Israelites believed God exercised absolute rule over all that was living, there wasn’t a clear idea of the land of the dead. Only gradually did they come to realize that both life and death are in God’s hands. This is the basis for Paul’s letter to the Romans: You, me — everyone — belongs to Jesus. He was sent by God to all people, not just the Jews, many of whom rejected Him — or to the Christians who claimed Him as their savior — but to all people. In this we see the deepest experience of Divine Grace — God helping us to live and go to heaven — to all His creatures. So it is not what we have or do not have, what we have or have not achieved, or even whether we are alive or dead: Nothing is important in comparison to belonging to Christ. Jesus died and rose from the dead, affirming the fulfillment of His promise of eternal life, heaven. The most important thing is belonging to Christ. We see this in the last lines of Romans: even when all is lost, when all possibilities are extinguished, when there is nothing to do or that can be done. When all potentials cease, it is then that the power of God in Christ comes through.

In Matthew we have another example of how disciples must give the forgiveness and mercy they have been given. The Gospel suggests that nothing owed us by another can compare with what we owe God. We see how generous God has been in forgiving us, and we’ve experienced it so often in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. If we cannot forgive others, perhaps we have not been transformed by God’s forgiveness of us. The process of being a forgiven person takes time — for some, a lifetime. Little by little our pettiness and resentment is reduced and our desire to get even is diminished. Perhaps we need to be forgiven seventy-seven times before we can forgive once? God is with us.

So I reflect on:

• Am I ready to do some soul-searching?
• How can I be “slow to anger and abounding in mercy?”

Sacred Space 2026 states:

“Forgiving others or hoping to be forgiven for wrongs we have done others is something not many of us are very keen to contemplate. Jesus had no such reticence about tackling the subject. Clearly He wanted us to know that His Father didn’t just forgive once or twice. Like the Prodigal Son, we are going to receive forgiveness no matter how often we return asking for it.”